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54
It is to be absolutely deprecated that so many children in this day and
age still need to have such a large number of teeth removed. It must be
pointed out that this is the direct result of neglect. Many of these teeth
could have been saved had parents brought their children to surgeries before
the dental disease had got to the point of no return. Much decay could have
been prevented had the children been subjected to courses of dental health
education in their schools.
The following table shows the number of teeth extracted for each age
Group.
Age Groups
No. of Teeth Extracted
1966
1965
5-9 years
3,843
3,231
10-14 "
2, 309
1, 962
15 & over
224
228
Totals
6,376
5,193
Of the increase shown by the 10-14 year age group, 159of the teeth referred
to belonged to the so-called "permanent dentition", obviously a misnomer for
these children; they had to be extracted almost before they had time to fully
erupt into their correct positions in the mouth.
As in 1965, the majority of teeth were taken out from children in the
youngest age group. It is therefore necessary to emphasise that it is too
late to wait until a child starts school before bringing him to the dentist.
Visits to the surgery should begin almost as soon as the child is born. In
this way the dentist is able to advise parents on how to prevent dental disease
before the teeth erupt into the mouth, and therefore before they come under
attack by sweets, biscuits, cakes and sweetened drinks. Otherwise it is too
late.
The ratio of fillings to extractions is 10.7 :1 for permanent teeth and
1.9 :1 for deciduous ones. These compare to national averages of 5.3 :1 and
0.6 :1 respectively. It is therefore clear that in Hackney more teeth are
being saved than in many other authorities. However this gives no cause to
cheer; the better figures are simply because of the extreme recruiting
difficulties for dental officers in other parts of the country, which means
that there is insufficient manpower to do all the necessary fillings. One
should point out that the figure for permanent teeth includes extractions for
orthodontic reasons. Such teeth have sometimes to be removed as part of normal
planned therapy.
General anaesthetic sessions are held as and when required. It is to be
hoped that by filling more teeth, and by extracting as many as possible of the
remainder under local anaesthesia (injections), the number of gas sessions can
be reduced to an absolute minimum. This is absolutely essential as much
psychological damage is often done to children during the upsetting experience
of a dental anaesthetic. This is widely recognised by children's doctors and
dentists throughout the world. With this in mind it is sad to draw attention
to the fact that nearly a quarter of all the children receiving general
anaesthetics in London were in Hackney. And this is in spite of this borough
having better facilities than other Inner London Boroughs to save teeth.
The number of orthodontic cases started in 1966 was 260, compared with
150 in the previous year. This is in addition to the children already under
treatment. At present an orthodontist is employed on a sessional basis, but